OpenRasta Xix Library

Tired of noisy XElements to generate your xml? Xix (standing for Xix Is Xml) is the smallest possible library that allows writing xml simply and succinctly.

##Installing

Latest builds of Xix are available on the AppVeyor project feed, at https://ci.appveyor.com/nuget/xix-k703x7hdb0fb

To add a source, from the command line, use nuget sources.

C:\> nuget sources add -name xix -source https://ci.appveyor.com/nuget/xix-k703x7hdb0fb

You can then install from the package manager console.

install-package OpenRasta.Xix -pre

Or from any shell window, use nuget.exe.

nuget install OpenRasta.Xix -pre

Documentation by example

Simple xml

dynamic xml = new Xix();

var document = xml.html
                [xml.head[xml.title["Title"]]
                [xml.body["Some text"]]

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Title</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    Some tet
  </body>
</html>

Default namespaces

dynamic html = new Xml("http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml");

var document = html.html[html.body]

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <body />
</html>

Aliasing namespaces

dynamic soap = new Xml("soap", "http://www.w3.org/2001/12/soap-envelope");

var document = soap.Envelope[soap:Body];

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://www.w3.org/2001/12/soap-envelope">
  <soap:Body />
</soap:Envelope>

Mix and match

dynamic xml = new Xix();
dynamic html = new Xml("http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml");
dynamic svg = new Xml("svg", "http://www.w3.org/2000/svg");

var document =
  xml.codeSample
    [html.head[html.body
      [svg.width("200px").height("100px")]
    ]];

<codeSample>
  <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
    <svg:svg width="200px" height="100px" />
  </html>
</codeSample>

Attributes

dynamic xml = new Xix();

var document = xml.html.base("http://example.org/base");

<html base="http://example.org/base" />

Boolean attributes

Note that this is the correct serialisation for boolean attributes, although browsers are a bit more flexible than that.

dynamic html = new Xix();
var doco = html.input.type("checkbox").@checked();

<input type="checkbox" checked="checked" />

Attributes with '-' in them

In order to make life easier for most cases, any element name or attribute containing an _ will be turned into a dash for your convenience.

dynamic xml = new Xml();

var document = xml.element.with_attribute("value");

<element with-attribute="value" />

If you're sure you want an underscore, you can double it (just to make sure you really meant something looking this bad).

dynamic xml = new Xml();

var document = xml.element.with__attribute("value");

<element with_attribute="value" />

Custom attributes whichever way I want

dynamic xml = new Xml();

var document = xml.element.attr("name-mixing_things", "has a value");

<element name-mixing_things="has a value" />

namespaced-attributes

In XML, the namespace of an attribute is dependent on the interpretation of the element that contains them. To enforce a namespace for an attribute, one needs to use the prefixed syntax.

dynamic xml = new Xix();
dynamic xlink = new Xix("xlink", "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink");
var doco = xml.html.attr(xlink.href("http://google.com"))
			[xml.body.attr(xlink.@base("http://bing.com"))];

<html xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="http://google.com">
  <body xlink:base="http://bing.com" />
</html>

Using linq

var sashimis = new[] { "Ikura", "Tobiko" };
dynamic xml = new Xix();
var doco = xml.menu[sashimis.Select(_ => xml.sashimi[_])];

<menu>
  <sashimi>Ikura</sashimi>
  <sashimi>Tobiko</sashimi>
</menu>

Interop with `System.Xml.Linq`

Any element and attibute created by Xix converts implicitly to the Linq types, so you can use them interchangeably.

dynamic xml = new Xix();
var doco = new XDocument(xml.body.base("http://google.com")));
XElement titleElement = xml.title;

<body base="http://google.com" />

XAttributes and XElement can be added to XixElements easily.

dynamic html = new Xix();
var doco = html.head
            [new XElement("title", "hello")]
            [html.base.attr(new XAttribute("src", "http://example.org"))];

<head>
  <title>hello</title>
  <base src="http://example.org" />
</head>

Same can be done using collection of XElements, using Linq.

var sushis = new[] {"Tobiko", "Ikura"};
dynamic xml = new Xix();
var doco = xml.sushis[sushis.Select(sushiName => new XElement("sushi", sushiName))];

<sushis>
  <sushi>Ikura</sushi>
  <sushi>Tobiko</sushi>
</sushis>

Same applies to attributes.

Todo List

Prefixed namespace attributes
Dash in attribute names e.g. 'my-attrib="..."'
Enumerables as children
System.Xml.Linq conversions
HTML boolean attributes (element.attribute())
Often-used namespaces
Query support

Ideas not yet requested by anyone yet

Concatenation to node lists with + operator (maybe?)
Serialization to HTML5 (low priority)
XmlDocument / XmlNode interop
Version without any ties to System.Xml.Linq (or System.Xml?)

openrasta/xix